November all in one post!

I took ZERO pictures in November, go me! But some memorable things happened so I took the opportunity to hijack some of my sister-in-law's photos! Really the main things was Thanksgiving. We spent it with Greg's family in San Diego because his youngest sibling, Melanie, came home from her mission to the Dominican Republic that Tuesday. Kim and Josh had gone out the Friday before, Brad and Ashley, and Jeff and Karen went out Monday, and then we left Tuesday afternoon and go tthere with about an hour to spare before heading to the airport. So in that hour all of the cousins got to color the welcome home sign.

 

Then they got to hold it while she came in to see all of us crazies!

 

 There she is!

Pretty much everyone who turned out to welcome her home. She claims she was a bit bummed coming home because she didn't think any of us were going to be there, silly girl. 

 

The next night the cousins all got to open their christmas presents from G-ma and G-pa. They all got sleeping bags to use for our family reunion camping trip that is happening in July. Axton was very disappointed at first because he wanted either a toy or candy. But he discovered that he would be able to sleep in it with his cousins in the living room he quickly changed his tune and decided it was the best present ever.

 

 

 As of last Thanksgiving we have started a new family tradition. Every time we are together for big family events, like this, we are going to play kickball. So the day before Thanksgiving we decided to take the kids to the park for something to do and played a little kickball there. Seeings that I was 32 weeks or so pregnant I decided playing with the little kids was my only good option, and that I should probably sit out the next day when the all the adults played and were competitive, especially since I can't run now! It was short lived but fun. Once again no photo of the adults playing the next day but they had fun.

 

With 20 or so of us under one roof I would say the week was a success. Now on to christmas!

Handcuffs

The main reason I bought Axton's halloween costume was because of all the accessories it came with, badge, flashlight, baton, binoculars, watch, hat, whistle, and ... handcuffs. Well I didn't really think about the whistle or handcuffs part to well. So one morning Kenzington is crying and screaming and I keep yelling at Axton to leave her alone but she won't stop. She finally came into where I was and this is what I saw!

 

 

She was so upset that she couldn't get her hands free but I couldn't help but laugh. I love things that kids do, most of the time. Once I laughed she decided it was ok too and after that she didn't mind being handcuffed, although thankfully they broke pretty quick!

Fishing

As mention a few months ago, Axton got a fishing pole for his brithday. So here are pics from our many adventures to Power Ranch to fish in their lake (and yes we have family that lives there so it was ok)!

 

Kenzington was way more interested in the ducks that were there and kept throwing them her goldfish.

 

Axton caught lots of baby fish with his pole but, like mommy, he didn't really want to touch them to throw them back in, but he did anyways, I did not!

 

Greg was so proud of his big fish, and Axton was in awe. Who knew fish could like hot dogs so much?!

 

I enjoyed going with them, but I'm ok if they want to go have boy time doing this! I don't mind fishing but I can think of other girly things to do with Kenz, and the new baby, once she's old enough. So glad Greg is a wonderful daddy and that we are able to provide our children with these experiences. I am so grateful that he chooses to spend his free time with his kids and never hesitates to take them out to do things. These kids have an amazing daddy!

The rest of Halloween

Finally here is the last of our Halloween fun, I know I'm almost 2 months behind yet again! But we did lots of fun things! We were able to go some of the cousin's real trunk-or-treating the night before halloween. It was a nice short 1/2 hour event! Kenzington definitely understood what was going on this time!

 

Axton checking out what he got

 

The only picture I got of all the cousins together on Halloween. Love having family live by us for the events, it makes them so much more fun.

 

For FHE the Monday before Halloween we finally carved pumpkins. Axton still doesn't like the feel of the guts and refuses to do that part. I swear we took pictures of the final product but I can't find them, oh well.

 

 One of my highlights was going to Bunco and having everyone dress up. We always have a blast but it's fun to see what these creative ladies come up with!

 

Halloween finished, now what else am I slacking on!

Yes, another one of these!

My most recent FREE product to try is Burt's Bees Intense Hydration skin products. By being a bzzmember I received a free bottle of their facial cleanser, night cream, and face mask. This line of their products is made out of the Clary Sage, which is a hardy little plant in the Mediterranean, that is able to retain moisture despite the harsh conditions it lives in, hense the intense hydration part!

According to them "In clinical studies, 100% of women tested said their skin felt hydrated after using Burt's Bees^® Intense Hydration products." I would have to agree.

Here's the run down of all the products in case you are interested:

Just the Facts

Now that you're ready to love your skin like never before, it's probably time to meet the entire Intense Hydration Face Care line. Check out this helpful section outlining the new skin care regimen:

The Burt's Bees^® Intense Hydration Face Care line:

• Clinically proven to intensely hydrate dry skin
• Helps reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles
• Is dermatologist-tested and noncomedogenic
• Is 99% natural
• Enhanced with probiotic technology
• Can be found in mass retailers (like Target or Wal-Mart), drug stores, grocery stores and natural health food stores nationwide

Intense Hydration Cream Cleanser

• Provides intense hydration and helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles*
• Leaves skin feeling soft, supple and revitalized
• Removes dirt, oil and makeup
• Rinses easily without leaving a residue
• Costs $9.99

Intense Hydration Day Lotion

• Provides intense hydration for a revitalized appearance
• Leaves your dry skin feeling soft and supple
• Absorbs quickly thanks to a non-greasy formula
• Costs $17.99

Intense Hydration Eye Cream

• Helps increase skin's ability to retain moisture and reduce fine lines and wrinkles for a revitalized look*
• Leaves the delicate skin around your eyes feeling soft and supple
• Absorbs quickly thanks to a non-greasy formula
• Costs $17.99

Intense Hydration Night Cream

• Replenishes moisture while you sleep — wake to skin that feels soft, supple and revitalized
• Provides intense hydration and helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
• Absorbs quickly thanks to a rich, non-greasy formula
• Costs $17.99

Intense Hydration Treatment Mask

• Clinically proven to provide immediate, intense hydration**
• Leaves skin looking revitalized
• Easy to apply — goes on wet and stays wet; wipe off with a tissue or washcloth
• Costs $17.99

I haven't tried the eye cream or the day lotion, I'm sure they are great too. I like the products overall, my complaint is the smell! That also might bother me more than usual due to the ever growing mass in my stomach! It has a very bushy, outdoors smell to it, but it hasn't bothered me enough to stop using it. Given how dry AZ is right now my face was feeling it, and even two days later without using the product (because I'm lazy), my face still feels hydrated. The other down side for me is the price. I'm cheap though, and don't know how much people are willing to pay for products, anything over $10 for me is expensive, maybe someday that will change! The other thing of note for me is that I didn't break out at all when I switched to this, which is always a good thing in my book. Overall I love the products this company comes out with, and look forward to trying more of their products in the future.

Ward Halloween Party

 Every year our ward puts on a neighborhood Halloween Party. I'm sure you've seen it every year for the last 4 years on our blog! I always look forward to this and this year it kicked off our halloween celebrations.

 

They had several bounce slides

 

And new this year they had a little bounce house just for 3 and under. Kenzington had no idea what to do in there but she enjoyed it none the less.

 

As always the hay ride through the neighborhood was a must and they did a wonderful job decorating it.

 

 

Kenzington's first time really trick or treating (I'm very anti babies getting candy from strangers, when they can't walk, let alone eat solid food). But this year she wasted no time getting to the goods.

 

And of course gotta be fair so this is the only pic of that night of Axton trick or treating with his cousins.

 

Things I didn't get pictures off include the barrel ride, donut eating (I will admit I had a handful of so myself!), face painting, haunted house (which Kenzington barely cried in, yep we're awesome parents like that), and a few other goodies like cotton candy, popcorn, etc. Needless to say when we got home around 9 my kids were wired, thank heavens it was Saturday night and church isn't until noon! Can't wait for next year.

Vertuccio Farms

 

Every year we have managed to go to Vertuccio Farms in October to start off the holiday festivities. We were going to skip it this year because it's a little spendy but then Brad and Ashley called us and asked if we want to join them and Kim's family for Family Home Evening there. We usually go on a Saturday morning so it was a nice change to do it on Monday night, the only downside is that my camera doesn't like the dark, we need a better flash for it. So here are a few pics to show that we were there.

 

Daniela, Brooklynn, and Vanessa

 

 

Followed by Talia, Greg and kenzington, and JJ.

 



 

Bringing up the rear was Axton, Ashley, Brad and Charlotte, and Kim. I was already super sick thanks to this baby so I opted to try to take pics and socialize with a few families from our ward that were there.

 

Axton is finally tall enough to pedal the cars by himself!

 

Their little bounce mat thing. The only decent pic I got because it was too dark so all the rest are blurry. Kenzington wasn't sure what to think of it, but all the cousins had fun bouncing each other. Sad that once again I couldn't get in on the action.  

 

Axton showing off his muscles!

 

We also did the corn maze and Greg thoroughly enjoyed it thanks to Ashley! He loves to scare people, especially when they react, and boy does she! We love her and her screams! We had fun and I'm sure we'll do it again next year!

Fair

 

Story of my life, I am once again playing catch up on this stinking blog! How am I ever going to manage it when the next baby comes? Hats off to those that stay on top of it! But I am loving some of the new changes blogger has installed like the fact that I can actually see my pictures now, no more guessing which one is which! And now they download relatively fast so maybe I will start doing this more! Downside I hate the new templates when trying to make my blog all cute. I actually locked myself out of my blog for a while because I erased the top bar, so I couldn't log in, I couldn't update posts, I couldn't do nothing! I finally found a way in through my moms and fixed it. So now to catch up.

 

At the beginning of Oct, AZ had their state fair. We had never been and decided that since it was $1 entrance on opening day before 5 or whatever we would head on over and check it out. I am realizing that I used to love fairs, not so much anymore, probably because the frugal side of me comes out and I now understand why parents dread them, they are money suckers! But the kids enjoyed it and that's all that matters.

 

First stop was "The Barn". The kids loved looking at all the animals and the petting area. Kenz wasn't afraid of the rabbits at all, but she has no idea what the word "soft" means, those poor bunnies!

 

 

 

She even tried to feed the goats, but they were a bit aggressive and she didn't stand a chance. Even Axton lost his cup of food the second they walked through the door to this same goat. He snatch it right out of his hand before he even knew what was happening.

 

The highlight for me was the kangaroo and joey. I had never seen one up close.

 

They had a reptile guy come and do shows, which we enjoyed. I was amazed at how long it lasted. I thought it would be a 10-15 minute thing, but it was closer to an hour. He does birthday parties too, so we might just splurge and have him come one year. He had all sorts of snakes, lizards, etc. Some of them cost upwards of $60,000! Now that is love.

 

After the animals Axton wanted to ride a few rides. Maybe the reason I don't like fairs anymore is because the last few times we have gone I haven't been able to ride anything, thanks to being a pregosaur. Maybe when the kdi are older I'll get to ride all the rides with them while Greg and his weak stomach sit and pig out, or play carnival games. But for now Greg gets to do the honors and first up was the giant slide. Which they kept going on so Axton only got to do one other ride. 

 

The airplanes.

 

Greg played carnival games, which to me are a complete waste of money but he enjoys them. I got the worst parent award because we forgot to strap Kenzington in the stroller and so needless to say she decided that night would be a good time to try to climb out. She ended up head diving onto the concrete, and ended up with a nice goose egg and scratches. She is definitely tough though and was over it in a few minutes. Needless to say she gets strapped in all the time now!

 

The one thing that is still true to my growing up, and maybe redneckness, is that I couldn't miss the chance to watch the cars race! They were doing the figure 8 race which I had never seen before and I enjoyed it, probably more than anyone else. Axton got bored after a while so we left about half way through, darn children. I didn't take any pics because I was enjoying it too much, and eating all of our fried food gloriousness.

 

 

Ok maybe I do still enjoy the fair, just have to expect it to cost a ton and plan for it next time, and not be pregnant. 

UNREAL Candy

The latest campaign I have been doing through bzzagent.com is a free trial of UNREAL Candy.



To see their website you can visit them here.

The basics of their products are:
No artificials
No hydrogenateds
No corn syrups
No preservatives
No GMOs

So far they have "knock off" candy bars of Snickers, Milky Way, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Plain M&Ms, and Peanut M&Ms.

If you are looking for a "healthier" kind of candy bar this might be right up your alley. So far my family has tried the Snickers, Reeses, and peanut M&M versions. My husband didn't like any of them, my 5 year old loved all of them, and I was somewhere in the middle. I definitely felt like they were lacking some sweetness, and the chocolate had a funky aftertaste in my opinion. The peanut m&m ones were lacking the sweet & salty aspect, they just seemed bland. The snickers version was my favorite, and I couldn't stand the Reeses version, one bite was all I could handle. They just didn't hit the spot for me, although I didn't think they were terrible (for the most part). To me I'd rather buy the real deal (which is cheaper than these ones and more ready accessable). I don't expect candy bars to be healthy for me, I want them to taste delicious since they are a rare treat! But I can see why health nuts would prefer these. And as a mother it is tempting to buy these instead so I can feel like my kids are getting a "healthier" treat.

But don't take my opinion for it, try it yourself and let me know what you think. I have B1G1 coupons if anyone is interested. I found them easily at CVS and Walgreens.

Axton turned 5!

Look at me being on top of things! Well at least if my computer cooperates!

Yesterday was Axton's b-day. I thought I had bought everything we needed to decorate the house and his cake on Saturday. Alas I was sadly mistaken! So the house wasn't decorated when he woke up like I had planned but he seemed to not even notice. We went to the store and bought what I was missing. Then he helped me mix the cake right before preschool and while he was off I got busy.

He came home to find his closet all decorated, and he has asked if we can keep it up forever! They are so easy to please at this age.

Since his big present this year was going to Disneyland we avoided a "friend" party for one more year! So we decided to have cousins who live here come over for cake. He requested a dinosaur one, and when he saw a picture of one with a hat his had to have one too.

Why do kids always enjoy licking off the bottom of the candles!

Apparently they couldn't wait to dig in!

Finally getting to enjoy what they had come for!

Axton was so excited to open his presents and his cousins were more than happy to help out with that! Thanks Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brad for the awesome "Cars" assortment of goodies!

Aunt Kim and Uncle Josh got him craft stuff. Finally a place for his markers, crayons, pencils, papers, etc, to be contained all in one place! He begged to sleep with it, but I knew he would be too tempted to open it up and start cutting and gluing things!

And although I think my mom was having serious doubts about the present we picked out from her, I must say I think it was his favorite! He got a fishing pole, complete with lures and hooks! He is already asking when we are going camping again (since he thinks you have to camp to fish). We'll be in trouble when he discovers he can fish next to his cousins house!

Since we took him to Disneyland for his major present, we got him two movies, and this awesome helicopter!

I bought it a year ago after he played with a friends, but we decided to hold onto it until he was either old enough, or until we were out of ideas/didn't want to spend money, etc! So after a spendy trip I decided now was the time! He has been flying it almost none stop and has almost perfected it. We were nervous at first because he kept crashing it, but Dad is going to be surprised when he gets home at how good Axton has become. He can land it softly, and make it go different directions with minimal crashing. He even managed to land it on the couch successfully.

Overall I think he had a great 5th birthday and I enjoyed it because all I really had to do was clean my house and bake a cake. Next year could be interesting when we finally do a "friends" party. He kept saying all day that, "this is the best birthday ever!" Oh please stay so easy!